Seven train cars derailed when the bridge over the Mantua Creek collapsed Friday morning. Four tank cars containing vinyl chloride were dumped into the creek. Nearby residents were evacuated and schools were locked down. Nearly 20 people complained of respiratory distress from the vinyl chloride vapor that leaked from the tank cars. (Photo provided by Rae Lynn Stevenson of Paulsboro)Photo by Rae Lynn Stevenson

Conrail owned the train and the bridge that collapsed that day, sending four tanker cars into the water, one of which breached and spilled vinyl chloride — a toxic chemical used in making PVC plastics — into the air.

In a letter to Conrail, the law firm of Lieberman and Blecher, a Princeton-based firm that previously filed a lawsuit on behalf of 52 Paulsboro residents, claims that Conrail’s representatives have approached members of the community to settle without an attorney’s input.

It was reported Tuesday that Conrail was offering residents between $500 and $2,500 to settle their claims.

Attorney Stuart Lieberman, the main attorney on the case for Lieberman and Blecher, condemned any settlement attempts and said that Conrail has a “moral obligation to any of the people it is settling with to fund an attorney to review any settling document they are being requested to sign.”

He recommends that anyone offered a settlement read any conditions before signing anything.

“What rights are they giving up? Are they giving up future claims for injury? What else is contained in these contracts?” he asked in a written statement Wednesday. “While I can see that this tactic might benefit a railroad defendant, it’s hard to see how such a practice will benefit these victims. It seems to me any railroad who is doing this in a poor neighborhood may be taking advantage of these people.”